


threads

by thunder_rolled_a_six



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Clothes, Gen, blood mention, spring 30 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-20 02:56:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18983797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thunder_rolled_a_six/pseuds/thunder_rolled_a_six
Summary: Blue J gets new shoes.Benjamin's shirt gets repaired.Emmanuel remembers something he's been keeping for a very long time.





	threads

**Author's Note:**

> Spring 30 spoilers!!!
> 
> a few little drabbles about clothes???? i dunno!!!!

Blue J likes to think of themself as a practical person. They patch up clothes when they wear down, they eat only what they need to, they work hard to make sure everyone is at least not any more in need than can be helped.

 

They really don't need the shoes in this trader’s cart.

 

Blue's siblings, even their father, often don't wear shoes at all. The soles of all their feet are thick, it's fine to walk around with them unprotected, especially with the weather warming and the discomfort of cold practically a thing of the past.  Blue already feels guilty enough for the shoes they have, old worn things they've had for years that fit them like a second skin from their constant use.

 

The thing is. These shoes are red. Blue J didn't know leather could be this sort of bright red, shiny like the occasional apple that passes through. And they're big enough for their large feet, fit almost as well as their old ones. Blue hovers, smiling and making small talk to the trader, but tears themself away. Other things are more important. The university needs food, needs metal to fashion into more arrow tips, needs blankets. They can do without the shoes.

 

The trading caravan stays in town for the rest of the week and Blue J tries very hard not to seek out that bright pop of color every time they pass. Red Jack is with them on one of these passes, heading to the caravan himself to negotiate for supplies for the University, and catches their longing stare at the boots, still unsold and still bright, beautiful red.

 

"Do you want them, child?"

 

Blue J shrugs, trying to play it cool. "No, it's ok. They're just bright, is all. Never seen shoes that color."

 

Red Jack picks them up. "Almost red as me!" He says, and Blue laughs, and the shoes are set down and they try again to forget them.

 

The caravan leaves. Blue stayed away the last few days of their stay. No need to mope over something so silly. They have training to do with Throndir and spells to test with Benjamin. There is hunting and farming and cleaning to be done. They barely think of the shoes at all.

 

Until, after a very long day, they find them sitting at the foot of their bed.

 

They freeze at the sight of them, then rush forward to make sure they're real and not some sort of figment of their imagination or fragment of waking dream. Solid leather is smooth under their fingertips. They charge out of the room to the dining hall where they last saw their father. "Did you-" they begin, slightly out of breath before being interrupted.

 

"Ah! Excellent, you found them! Do they fit? I realized I did not know if you had tried them on-"

 

"I- yeah they fit, but-"

 

"Wonderful! They are a fetching shade! Ha ha!"

 

"Dad-"

 

"And your old ones are very worn down now. It's good you found a new set-"

 

"Dad!" They don't really mean to shout, and blush a darker blue when people around glance at them. "Dad. I didn't need them. The university needs other things more, you shouldn't have-"

 

"My child,” Red Jack says, leaning towards them. Blue J might be growing up, but Red Jack still towers above them, and even sitting down is slightly taller than them.  "This was a small thing. A necessary thing. You needed new shoes, yes?"

 

"My old ones are ok-"

 

“You _wanted_ new shoes, yes?"

 

Blue frowns in frustration. "Yes. Yeah. But still-"

 

"It is ok to have things you want, sometimes. Even if you don't _need_ them. If it makes you feel better, I didn't pay for them."

 

"Dad!" Blue looks scandalized. "You didn't-"

 

"I did not steal them," Red Jack laughs, throwing his hands in the air. "I bargained them in with the rest of what we were getting. Apparently they were having a hard time selling them anyway." He pats Blue on the top of the head in the awkward and loving way he has. "Go on, put them on. Go show Benjamin. Shoes fitting of our brave ranger!"

 

Blue sighs, but a smile seeps onto their face and they clutch the shoes tighter. "Fine. Thank you, dad."

 

"It was no trouble. Go on."

 

Blue J leaves the hall to find their best friend and show him this new and wonderful unnecessary treasure.

  
  
\--

 

When Rosana hands back his shirt she looks like she’s been crying. She’s been crying a lot since the library and Benjamin wants to hug her very tight and take deep breaths to prove to her he can, to prove he’s here and ok and not in that other place with Hella and not laying on the ground soaked in his own blood.

 

The blood has been scrubbed from the light cloth. The hole is stitched up.

 

"Your father helped," she half sighs, kissing him on the forehead.  He closes his eyes for just a second at the contact and it could be any day. They could be back home, they could all be safe. He opens his eyes and he's still in Alcyon.

 

He says "thankyoumom," real quick and dashes away to go change and tries to breathe steady because he thinks if she sees him cry she'll start again too and he's put his mother through enough of that in the past 24 hours.

 

He examines the repair as he tries to stay calm. Rosana has never been particularly gifted with a needle and thread but her stitches are at least a little cleaner than this usually, and Ben bites his tongue at the tears that well up and he thinks how her hands must have been shaking. And then his father's stitches, nothing beautiful but neat and practiced.  Ben remembers being very small and watching his hands as he worked on a tear in the knee of one of his pants. How he smiled at him, kissed the top of his head when he was done.

 

He pulls on the shirt quickly, running his fingertips over the new row of thread as he walks out to  return to his parents’ side.

  
\--  


Emmanuel forgot the shirt was Lem's.

 

In those first months he did not wear it, kept it safe and clean and neatly folded, waiting for his return. Wept into it when return seemed a vanishing possibility. Then things started to get harder and he needed another shirt to wear, his others torn or in need of a wash he did not have the time for and it was ok, he figured, to wear it once. It still, just barely, smelled like him, and to wear it would be an act of remembrance. Emmanuel couldn't quite believe Lem was dead, despite no evidence to the contrary, but he still was far, far away, and having this piece of him throughout the day was comforting. After that it made its way into regular rotation. It became as worn and patched as all the rest of his clothes, but it was of sturdy make and lasted over the ten years. Eventually it stopped being Lem's shirt and was just a thing to wear.

It's only after they've spoken for the first time in ten years, after Emmanuel hears the voice he thought he might never again, after old wounds are both soothed and bleeding fresh, that he picks at the stitches on a sleeve and remembers. Lem’s shirt. They see each other again for the first time in a decade and he’s wearing his shirt.

 

Emmanuel laughs to himself in a sort of helpless way, and goes to see if he’ll be wanting it back.

 


End file.
